Local election is Tuesday, April 8.

Kellar, currently mayor, and Planning Commissioner Trautman are running for two open seats on the council.

"We are at a pivotal time in deciding how the future development of Santa Clarita will be managed," Smart Growth chairman David Gauny said in a statement. "Our city needs critical thinking leaders that will rise above cheap sound bites and political spin to forcefully deal with our most important issues."

Smart Growth SCV has been working over the past three years to limit the expansion of office buildings on the Henry Mayo Hospital campus, arguing that the proposed contracts have failed to include a substantive hospital expansion, adequate parking, or any real assurances of services.

"Bob Kellar and Diane Trautman have demonstrated time and again the leadership to ask questions and do what's right for the future of our city," Gauny added. "We must have leaders that stand against lobbyists who profit when our city surrenders to unregulated growth.

"If we don't elect these leaders now, you need not travel far south on (Interstate 5) to see what we will become," Gauny said.